Mother of Pearl, a scarf

Well, I was referring to the shape of the thing, not an actual sleeveless sweater :). This little shell and many others are part of my newest design, the Mother of Pearl scarf!

I teamed up with Crystal Palace Yarns to bring you this pattern, and it is available for free on their website. All the details are contained within, of course. Naturally, the pattern has also taken up residence on Ravelry.

I’m including some pattern history, interesting tidbits, and more photos after the fold, if you’re inclined to take a look ;).

This pattern has been in the works since the Spring of 2007. Back then I got my hands on a pearly white ball of Panda Wool by Crystal Palace Yarns (since then replaced by Panda Superwash), and the shimmer had me hooked!

At that time I was thinking about dimensional knitting – how to make knitted designs pop from the background – so Panda Wool, a yarn with a tight twist, a bouncy feel, and shimmer, was an instant winner.

For the 3-D aspect, I played with many different ideas – making elongated stitches, increasing and decreasing quickly, divorcing the standard pairing of yarn overs and decreases. The shells emerged next – oysters, mussels, clams, and scallops suddenly appeared, and seemed to belong when knit up in the pearly yarn. I thought, “It’s all pointing to nacre, or mother of pearl.”

I tried to keep things in perspective and not get too complicated, however, arranging elements in a way that made sense while delivering the desired visual. So, all the crazy increases happened in the same row, and all the unusual, funky stuff happened a few rows later, and then there had to be several rows of “smooth sailing” – no need for a chart, just finish off the pattern repeat as it plays itself out.

This is the original swatch! It made its way to Interweave, where unfortunately it was not selected to be in one of their issues. A year-long hibernation followed during which I had to live my life (engaged! married! new job! moved!), but I never, ever forgot my Mother of Pearl design. Just something about it… I guess it took a lot of thought to make those shells appear exactly as I wanted, and I insisted that they be shared with the world!

It occurred to me that perhaps Crystal Palace Yarns would be willing to provide me with some yarn if I wrote the pattern for them. Bingo! Susan Druding (CPY founder, owner, director, you name it!) was very excited about the project, and helped me select the appropriate yarn – Panda Silk DK.

You may be thinking, “Wait a minute! Didn’t the yarn inspire the pattern? How could you swap it out for something else?” Simple. It’s a better choice for this pattern, a choice which wasn’t available back in May 2007! This yarn has an incredible amount of drape without a hint of limpness. It’s very soft, it’s shiny, and it’s a bit thicker than the original (DK versus fingering-weight – one knits up much quicker than the other!).

Between you and me, Mint Cream is my absolute favorite of the bunch. However, to keep true to the pattern, I used Frosted Rosewater to knit the CPY sample – it’s a much likelier MOP color, don’t you think?

Yes, note the body, the height, the profile of that thing! Just a few inches in, I knew that my design knit up in Panda Silk DK was going to be a good one ;). Several feet later, here it is!

P.S. How did you hook up with Crystal Palace? I have some designs I’m cooking up that really will look awesome in a specific manufacturer’s yarn. I’d like to let them see the design. Is there a specific channel you go about to do it?

Really lovely – the stitchwork on this is very nice, I love those little shells on the edges!

And thanks for mentioning the backstory on this – I’ve a project in the works now that was first sketched back in 06 and has been a helpful reminder to me of how long an idea can actually take to come to fruition – and that it is perfectly ok! Your long awaited scarf is a lovely design and a perfect example of this!

Lovely! I especially like the way that you incorporated the edging into the body of the scarf, rather than adding it afterward. That construction makes it so much easier to knit with a precious yarn when you want to squeeze every last yard out…just the kind of yarn that would be perfect for this pattern, in fact!

Weeell, I’m not sure if I like it because of the pale pink… maybe with another shirt instead of black? I’m sure I would love it in real but for me it would be difficult to decide the color of the silk.

What I love is the sides, shape and… the romantic look, so soft and very 1800’s…

Dear one, You have again made yarn into a work of art and HEART. I love this pattern.

I also wanted to say that apparently i was a combination knitter for years until I was “retaught” and Now I can’t do the purl part. Do you have a link on how to do the purl side?

I Found that method Fastest, but I was

SHAMED into changing my method… My lace was torn out but the helper… and I guess I was Jolted in my menopausal brain to do something different. So now i can’t remember. Also wanted to tell you that I so much enjoy seeing you on Knitty Gritty!!! I think you are the most down to earth and loveliest knitter I have seen!

Dear one, You have again made yarn into a work of art and HEART. I love this pattern.

I also wanted to say that apparently i was a combination knitter for years until I was “retaught” and Now I can’t do the purl part. Do you have a link on how to do the purl side?

I Found that method Fastest, but I was

SHAMED into changing my method… My lace was torn out by the person helping me and it was so traumatic. I had knit since i was 6 but had problems with lace knitting and asked for help .. soI guess I was Jolted in my menopausal brain to do something different in purling and now my stitches are twisted in the knit side and lace still doesn’t work great.

BTW I Also wanted to tell you that I so much enjoy seeing you on Knitty Gritty!! Thank you for making plus size and i would love to see a lace plus size cardigan with a mandarin collar ! Does that spark an idea??

I think you are the most down to earth and loveliest knitter I have seen! THANK YOU AND

thank you for kindness to us for this pattern PLUS for teaching us who do the needles “differently”.

I, too, dreamed of the precious sleeveless shell that would show up one day (I admit to being impatient!) on your blog – pink, of course, being my absolute fav! But, this breathtaking little beauty has swept all those thoughts away and brought only gratefulness and awe in it’s wake. Thank you so much!